As we know, children often gravitate towards toys that look like the items used by adults so as to imitate the activities of their care-givers. This toy typewriter is typical of role-playing toys produced for children during the 1950s to satisfy their wish to appear grown-up and prepare them for their roles in adulthood.
Although this is a working toy, and looks very much like an actual typewriter it is used in a very different way, with a mechanism quite like a 'Dymo' label-maker for producing the type. The mechanism has a disc with a plastic band around the outside showing the letters of the alphabet in capitals together and other symbols. The top of the disc is metal printed with the characters in black on white; in its centre is a circular dial with an arrow to the left side. Letters are selected by turning the dial so the required letter is under the arrow and the lever is depressed to print the type. Although the painted keyboard looks exciting it is purely ornamental.
Below the letter lever is a smaller lever which should operate the space bar if not for rust. The paper is turned by a metal rod. At each side are the clamps for the ribbon and a bar to align the paper.
It really must have taken an age to type anything and one wonders whether this encouraged or discouraged any career ambitions that may have required using a real typewriter!